...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
The latest estimates for last month's UFC 189 pay-per-view event have downgraded some previously estimated numbers, but while it's not quite the million-buy draw that Conor McGregor pushed it as, it's still massively successful given the circumstances.
Still, that puts it in line with UFC 182 and UFC 183 from January as the top drawing cards of 2015 to that point, a massive feat for a replacement fight between McGregor and Chad Mendes, and a testament to McGregor's star power.
With those numbers in place, Meltzer backs up Dana White's comments from over the weekend regarding UFC 190, with the Ronda Rousey headlined event trending ahead of these figures. However, it's still too early to pin down a buyrate range just yet.
Penick's Analysis: It's not quite the over the top smash a million buys would have represented, but over 800,000 buys for a division which has never drawn near that well - with the Champion out of the fight and a replacement opponent made two weeks out - is a massive success. It's really incredible, and clearly the UFC has made the right move putting their eggs in the Conor McGregor basket. Rousey doing even more than that with less of a promotional push and essentially by herself is a sign of how much bigger her draw has become. She's reaching different demographics than the UFC's normal audience alone, and it's showing.
DON'T GO YET... WE SUGGEST THESE MMATORCH ARTICLES, TOO!
Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.